


his little horns

by ghostinthebook



Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Family, Family Fluff, Fluff, How Do I Tag, M/M, POV Alec Lightwood, POV Isabelle Lightwood, POV Magnus Bane, but it's gonna be a fluff fic, so hold on to your hats, tiniest bit of angst near the beginning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-29
Updated: 2019-06-02
Packaged: 2020-03-26 18:49:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19011748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghostinthebook/pseuds/ghostinthebook
Summary: They thought that Max only had one warlock mark.AKA everyone starts noticing Max Lightwood-Bane's horns





	1. his dads

**Author's Note:**

> Enjoy!!!!!!!!

Magnus had just placed Max in his playpen when his phone rang. He made sure everything was fine with Max, his toys were in reach, and then looked at the caller ID. He smiled.

“Alexander, hi,” he said, walking over to the apothecary while he was talking. He only needed five minutes to make a potion for a client, so he figured Max would be fine in the other room. He looked tired, probably was going to nap soon. Sometimes Alec took Max to the Institute with him, but that place tended to be less child-friendly (and less warlock-friendly), so Max often stayed with Magnus or was babysat by their various friends. That was fine with Magnus, he loved taking care of Max, and Alec tried to get days off as often as he could. They loved being fathers, and they loved Max so much.

“Hey Magnus,” Alec said. “I think I can go home early today, so if there aren’t any more demon attacks or emergencies, I’ll be home before dinner.”

“That’s wonderful, both me and Max will be looking forward to that. Want to go out for dinner, or stay in?” Magnus asked. If they were going out, there would probably be mundanes around, and Magnus would have to glamor Max before they left, because of his navy blue skin. Anywhere that there wasn’t mundanes, they wouldn’t glamor him. They wanted him to be proud of his warlock mark.

“Stay in, I miss being home,” Alec said. He had been working late nights the past three nights, only barely getting back home before both Magnus and Max were asleep.

“Okay, it’s a plan then. Love you.”

“Love you too.”

Magnus hung up the phone and went to start on his potion. He had all the ingredients lined up and ready to go when he heard a cry from outside the apothecary.

Magnus sighed, and went to comfort Max. He picked Max up from his playpen, whispering soothingly in his ear and patting his back. Max continued to cry.

“What is going on?” Magnus asked Max (more like asked himself, because Max would definitely not be able to understand him). He rubbed his hand over Max’s head when he felt them.

Two very small bumps.

He would like to say that he was an image of calmness right then, but in reality, he was muttering self-censored cuss words and freaking the (frick, no cussing in front of Max) out. He let himself do that for a moment, then forced himself to calm down and think logically. If something was wrong with Max, he or Catarina could most likely fix it. It would break his heart, yes, but it would be fixable. He needed to think of Max right now.

He used his magic to soothe Max, and to see what the bumps were. Max stopped crying, though he was still whimpering.

The bumps weren’t malicious (thank the Angel, Magnus thought, then wondered when he had picked up Shadowhunter sayings), but they were confusing. The closest thing his magic could recognize the situation as was what happened when Max grew another tooth. So, it was… supposed to be there?

Magnus had an idea. He called Catarina, hoping she was on break, or that it was her day off.

“Hi Magnus, what’s up?” Cat answered. He could hear Madzie talking the background, probably playing some online co-op video game that she had become obsessed with. It seems like just yesterday she was so small, now she was almost a teenager. Magnus feared that his little Max would grow up that fast, but also he was happy. Fatherhood was weird sometimes.

“Cat, do you know the symptoms of growing horns? Oh, and hello to you and to Madzie,” Magnus said, talking faster than he usually did.

“Did a spell or potion go wrong again and now you’re growing horns? Please be more careful, Magnus,” Catarina said, sounding exasperated.

“No, no no no, not me. I think Max is growing horns. Like Ragnor’s horns, y’know? I can feel two bumps on his head, but I checked to see if they were bad, and they don’t seem to be. So, maybe he has two warlock marks, blue skin and horns?”

“That sounds about right,” Catarina said after a short pause. “I’d like to come over there and double check, just to be sure. I’ll take Madzie with me.”

“Thank you so much Catarina, I’ll see you in five.” Magnus hung up.

He held Max as he made the potion for the client while waiting for Cat, thankful that it wasn’t a dangerous potion. If it was, he’d have to put Max down, something he did not want to do.

Not after long, the potion was done, and Catarina and Madzie walked into the loft.

“Max!” Madzie immediately said, walking over and holding out her arms. Max made happy noises and reached his arms out towards Madzie. Magnus let her hold Max as Cat walked over and started to check Max with her magic.

After a minute or so of that, Cat gave the verdict.

“Yes, he’s growing horns. It will be a little painful, but I can give you something to give to him for when it hurts. I’ll give you a list of what to do and all that.”

“Cat, you’re a lifesaver. Thank you so much,” Magnus said. He was relieved there wasn’t something wrong with his baby, although sad that the horns would cause Max some pain. But that would be worth it, in the end. Max would have beautiful horns.

Magnus felt someone going through his wards, and smiled as Alec came into the room.

“Oh, hi Catarina, Madzie. It’s great to see you,” Alec said after seeing the two of them. He then walked over to Magnus and gave him a kiss.

“Hi,” he said. Then he walked over to Madzie, who was still holding Max.

“Can I take him now?” Alec asked. Madzie nodded and handed Max to Alec.

‘Hey baby, I’m so happy to see you again,” he said to Max in a high-pitched, talking-to-a-baby voice, giving him a kiss on the forehead. Max babbled, not forming any words but acting like he was. Alec then turned back to Cat and Madzie. “As lovely as it is to see you, why are you two here? Are you joining us for dinner?”

Catarina shook her head no. “We already have dinner plans, we just came over to check something out. I think it’s time to go now, anyway. C’mon Madzie.”

Madzie gave Magnus and Alec hugs before joining Catarina as she left the loft.

Sometimes, Magnus was shocked that both he and Catarina had managed to become parents in the same decade, parents of warlock children nonetheless. Neither of them had ever imagined raising a child. But, for Catarina, Madzie came along, and she needed a home. Cat was only supposed to take care of her until they could find somewhere more permanent, but the two had grown so attached that Catarina eventually adopted Madzie. It was amazing. And, for Magnus, Alec came along. He was probably the first person Magnus had ever dated that would even consider parenting with Magnus, so when they found little Max, Alec wanted to keep him so badly. They had talked about it, with Magnus admitting that he wanted Max badly too, and they adopted him. It was one of the best days of Magnus’s very long life.

“What were they over here for?” Alec asked, sitting down on the couch while still holding Max, who had fallen asleep by now. Magnus sat down next to him.

“Before I start, I’d like to make it clear to you that Max is fine,” Magnus said, noticing how saying that made Alec hold Max a bit closer to his chest. “I heard Max crying, so I went to go calm him down, and I noticed two bumps on his head. I called Cat, she came to check it out, and confirmed that they are horns.”

“So… Max is growing horns?” Alec said, the emphasis on “horns” clear and his eyes going wide.

“Yes, it seems so. Some warlocks have two marks, and it looks like Max will be included in that club. Cat told me it would be a bit painful, but she has something we can give to him for that. They ought to be growing in soon, and we’ll see how they look then.” Magnus felt more relaxed now. He knew warlock stuff, and because he was friends with Ragnor (and many other horned warlocks, but none as close as Ragnor), he knew about horns. He would know how to help Max. He could do this.

Alec sat for a second, wide-eyed, taking it all in. He absentmindedly patted Max’s sleeping form as he did, light as a feather, but enough to reassure him that Max was alright.

“Okay. We got this. Max will have beautiful horns to match his beautiful skin and it will be great. He’ll be okay. We got this,” Alec said, looking like he was mostly speaking to himself. It was all truth, though, so Magnus agreed with him. They sat there for a while, silent, taking the situation in. It was a lot to process. Also, Max was slowly starting to wake up again, making little, but persistent noises. Magnus spoke up again.

“Now,” Magnus said. “It’s time for dinner. You get his bottle, I’ll summon the food. Preference?”

“I was thinking Thai food?” Alec said as he walked towards the kitchen to get the bottle.

“Thai it is,” Magnus said, summoning their order (he already knew what they wanted, and would put money in the restaurant's register soon) and putting it on the table.

Soon enough, they were at the table, Max with his bottle, and Magnus and Alec digging in to their food. It was like normal.

Everything would be alright.


	2. his aunt izzy and uncle jace

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this took so long to write, idk why. but now it's written, and i have two more chapters planned out, and then it'll be done. also, there is a bit of a time jump between each chapter, so i imagine Max is a few months or so older in this one. i love the Lightwood siblings :) enjoy!!!!!!!

Alec walked into the training room of the Institute, holding Max.

Jace and Izzy were fighting with their seraph blades off to the side, where Alec knew they would be. He called out, to let them know that he was there, along with Max.

“Hey, buddy!” Jace said to Max, putting down his weapons and walking over. Soon enough, Izzy did the same.

“Magnus has a meeting with the High Warlock of Versailles today, so Max is going to be hanging out with me while I do paperwork. Isn’t that right, Max?” Alec said. Max babbled incoherently in response.

Max was wearing an orange, fox-themed beanie on his head. It wasn’t quite yet cold enough for hats, but Alec knew that it would be easier on everyone today if Magnus didn’t glamor Max, just put a hat on his head to cover up his small horns. The horns were big enough now that they couldn’t guarantee that his hair would cover them up.

They hadn’t planned on not really telling anyone (except for Catarina and Madzie, who already knew), but it had happened that way. After talking about it, they figured that it would be simpler and easier if they didn’t say right away. They wanted to tell it on their own terms.

So, whenever Magnus was out of town, Max wore a hat. He had a very adorable collection of beanies, and Magnus used his magic on all of them to make them very comfortable to wear. They also would help soothe the pain of his horns, and not be too warm in not-cold weather. As a result of the magic on all the hats, Max quite enjoyed wearing them. Which gave his dads a good excuse for why he wore them a lot.

“I see Max is wearing the beanie I got him. Any specific reason?” Izzy asked.

“He chose it out this morning. Magnus said that the orange clashes with his outfit, but neither of us wanted to make him choose something else, so fox beanie it is,” Alec said. It was true, Max had chosen that one out specifically. Max might have remembered that his Aunt Izzy gave it to him, and that his Dad said he would see her today, but Alec doubts that.

Suddenly, Alec’s phone went off. He looked at it while still holding Max.

“Oh, fu- frick. Frick. Clave representative in the building, Nicholas Stormwright. He doesn’t like me, he can’t know that Max is here. Can you guys watch him for just a little bit, I need to get Mr. Stormwright out,” Alec said. He was getting increasingly stressed by the second, knowing just what this man thought of his family. That the smallest member of his family is in the building. Alec might not be able to cuss out loud for the time being, but his mind did half the work.

“Yeah, sure man. We can watch Max. Go,” Jace said, holding out his arms for Max. Alec put Max in Jace’s arms, muttered something about not giving him a dagger, and left the training room as quick as he could.

* * *

Alec had just left when Max started to whine a little.

“Shi- shoot. Please don’t cry, Max,” Jace said, patting him on the back and bouncing him a tiny bit. For now, that seemed to calm him. Izzy had no idea how long Jace’s calming would last, but it at least would put it off.

“Let me hold him, he wants to see his favorite aunt,” Izzy said.

“You’re his only aunt,” Jace said, putting Max in her arms.

“Doesn’t make me not the favorite,” she said, winking. She held him as she walked around the training room, Jace following closely behind, and pointed out different kinds of weapons.

“Those are butterfly knives, not my cup of tea but pretty cool nonetheless,” Izzy said. As she spoke, Max started to whimper.

“Izzy, do you think we’re scaring him? Should we stop?” Jace asked. He looked very concerned.

“I don’t know, maybe. We’ll stop, and if he starts crying anyway, we’ll know it’s something else? Did Alec give us a bag?” Izzy said. She remembered him holding a bag as he came into the room. She hoped it had snacks or something in there, in case he started to cry.

They walked to the middle of the room and Izzy gave Max to Jace, who promptly sat down with Max in his lap. Izzy went around the room, looking for the bag. She found it near the entrance.

“Uh, Izzy, we got a problem,” Izzy could hear Jace say. She also heard Max crying.

Oh fu-

She grabbed the bag and pulled it open as she walked to Jace and Max. Once there, she pulled out some sort of cereal-like snack. He didn’t want to eat it. They checked his diaper, he didn’t need a change.

“What do babies need? How do Alec and Magnus do this all the time?” Izzy said, exasperated.

“I have no idea, and I have no idea,” Jace said. “Maybe… he’s too warm? Should we take off the hat?”

“That’s as good a guess as any,” Izzy said, pulling the hat off Max, and-

Woah.

Max had horns. Legit, real, horns. They were poking out of his hair, like little curved spikes.

Since when did he have horns?

“What in the name of the Angel…” she heard Jace whisper. That was basically what she was thinking, too.

Max was still crying.

“I guess… that explains it?” Izzy said. “That’s kinda like growing a tooth, right? Maybe?”

She was really confused.

“Okay guys, Clave representative Stormwright is back in Idris, and-” Alec said as he walked in, breaking off once he heard Max. “Is my son crying?”

“Yeah,” Izzy said, as Alec walked up to them, noticing Max’s horns and picking him up. He looked in the bag and grabbed another beanie, putting it on him. This one was green and frog-themed. Max almost immediately quieted down.

“Um, Alec, parabatai, brother,” Jace said, still shocked by the horns. “Care to explain?”

“Explain what?” Alec said. He was distracted by comforting Max.

“Your son has horns,” Izzy finished for Jace.

“Oh, that,” Alec said. “They’ve been growing in, very slowly, for a while now. We weren’t really planning on showing them around yet, but it’s fine that you know. The hat helps with the pain, most of the time. The magic must have worn off on the other one, so that’s why Max was crying.”

“So…” Jace said. “Max has two warlock marks?”

“Yeah.”

They all were quiet for a second, looking at Max. He wasn’t crying anymore, now that his head was probably not in pain. He was playing with a little toy that Alec had gotten out of the bag as well, and he was hitting Alec’s arm with it. It looked hard enough that it might leave a light bruise. Alec wasn’t even flinching.

“How about we all go and get some ice cream?” Izzy suggested. She was in the mood, and she knew she could work off all the calories on her patrol that night. “It looks like we have something to celebrate.”

Max had perked up on the words “ice cream”, and Alec had a little smile on his face. Jace was already putting away the weapons from the training earlier that they barely started.

“What are we celebrating?” Alec asked. He was putting Max’s stuff back in the bag, and he pulled out a small bracelet. He put it on Max, and suddenly, Max was glamored into a mundane skin color, instead of his normal navy blue. Izzy knew that Alec had some items like that, to give Max to glamor him when they went out and Magnus was out of town. This was a sign that they were going somewhere mundane.

Izzy’s plan worked.

“Well, Max has horns. That’s a milestone. Put it right next to ‘first tooth’ in the baby scrapbook.”

Alec laughed.

“Well, I’m ready. Let’s go.” He held out the hand that wasn’t holding Max to Izzy, and Izzy offered her hand to Jace.

“Let’s go.”


	3. his grandma

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i felt bad for the second chapter taking so long, so i tried to write the third pretty quick. another time jump. enjoy!!! <3

Max was wearing a puffy coat and a beanie as he slowly walked into Maryse’s antiques shop, holding the hands of both of his fathers.

“Is that my grandson, walking almost by himself?” Maryse said, smiling wide. She thought she might never get used to the fact that she is a grandmother. Many Shadowhunters didn’t live to that age, but since she was mundane, she didn’t have to worry about that. Also, there was the issue of her not getting along with her kids most of the time, a few years ago. Now, though, it was great. Both Alec and Magnus were happy to include her in Max’s life, something she was not taking for granted.

She loved being a grandmother.

“Yeah, he took his first steps without help a few days ago. I have a video, I can show you,” Alec said. He lifted up Max and put him on the counter, holding him in one place with one of his hands and taking out his phone with the other. Magnus stood close by, looking at a few of the items in the shop.

It was wintertime, so everyone was bundled up, and Maryse had the heater running. She tried to make her shop have a warm and happy vibe, so keeping the place a good temperature in the New York winter was essential to keeping her customers coming. She had been getting a lot of customers recently, trying to get Christmas presents for their families. It was nice.

Alec showed her the video of Max. In the video, Max was standing next to the end of the couch, holding onto it. She could hear Magnus saying “come to Papa, Blueberry” in a very excited voice off-screen, and Alec, filming, saying “go to Papa”. Max let go of the couch and slowly took a few steps, the camera moving to show where he was going. The steps were a little shaky, and he didn’t get far, but he went into Magnus’s arms. The video ended soon after, with the sounds of celebration from his dads.

“That was absolutely adorable, send that video to me, please,” Maryse said. As Alec texted the video to Maryse, Magnus walked up to the counter with an old book.

“I found this book over there, I believe I knew the author. Charming fellow, lived in the 1700s, went on long tangents often. How much for it?”

“For you? Whatever you want to pay for it,” she said. The shop was doing so well lately, with Christmas around the corner, so she could definitely afford to give this one away. Especially since it wasn’t an original copy, something she knew Magnus was aware of. Also, they brought her grandson with them. That was payment enough.

“Oh.” Magnus looked slightly shocked by her offer, something he quickly covered up. “Here you go, then.”

He handed her a $50.

“I insist,” Magnus said before she could protest. He really was a generous man. She doesn’t know how she ever believed that ridiculous Clave file on him. So much of it, she learned over the years, was wrong.

She was never more glad for it to be wrong.

Max picked up the book off the counter, and looked like he was about to chew on a corner.

“Oh, no you don’t,” Maryse said, taking the book out of his hands and putting it out of his reach. She looked at Max a bit closer.

“Isn’t a bit warm for that? I have the heater on pretty high. Outside, it’s fine, but while we’re still in here, no coat and hat, okay?” She didn’t wait for a response before taking Max’s hat off.

Oh.

That’s why he was wearing a hat.

He had horns. They were big enough that his hair wouldn’t be able to cover it, she was a bit surprised that the hat did. They didn’t look weird on him, it was actually a little cute.

Her grandson had horns.

Not something she would have thought to be true years ago, but now is the truth.

Wow.

“We can explain,” Alec said, looking a bit more than slightly panicked. Magnus’s face mirrored his.

“No, I got it. He has horns. I know he’s a warlock, y’know,” Maryse said. She didn’t like how worried they had gotten, and they could talk about that later. And maybe why they were hiding it. But they didn’t need to talk about it just yet.

She put the hat back on Max.

‘His horns are adorable, by the way,” she added. Magnus and Alec smiled.

“They are indeed,” Magnus said.


	4. his brother

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if my Spanish is wrong, please correct me :) this is the last chapter, it ended up being a bit short, but i didn't want to force the story, and it had a good stopping point. i feel like the chapters slowly became less about the horns, but that's fine, i think. enjoy!!! <3

It was by coincidence, Magnus thought, that Max was wearing a hat when he first met Rafael.

Max barely wore his beanies anymore. His horns were big enough now that his dads had to avoid them when kissing his head, or else they’d be poked. Normal hats wouldn’t cover them up anymore, so he had been wearing a beanie that Magnus had specifically made to glamor the horns. Max had started growing his horns pretty early, so at three years old, they were pretty big. Magnus thinks that they won’t grow anymore, at least for a few years.

It was a beautiful set of horns. Magnus was so proud of his son.

Now, he had two sons. Max and Rafael Lightwood-Bane. Life was pretty perfect.

And Rafael didn’t know about Max’s horns, a fact that Magnus became very aware of when Rafael walked into the living room to see Max, horns out, coloring in the coloring book Clary gave him.

Rafael had paused in the doorway, staring at Max. Magnus knew that Rafael knew that his brother was a warlock, blue skin and everything. But, suddenly seeing his brother, that he met only the day before, with horns is understandably shocking. Rafael continued looking at Max as he walked over to Magnus.

“¿Max tiene… cuernos?” he asked.

“Sí,” Magnus said.

Rafael seemed to think about it for a second, then he nodded and walked over to Max. He didn’t speak seem to speak a lot, at least not yet, something Magnus was fine with. If Rafe ended up not being much of a talker, that was okay, and if he needed to wait until he was more comfortable to talk more, that was okay, too. He just wanted Rafe to be safe and happy.

“Me gustan tus cuernos,” Rafael said. Max, not understanding what Rafe said, looked to Magnus for translation.

“He said he likes your horns.”

“Oh!” Max said, smiling wide. He looked excitedly up at Rafe. “Thank you, I like your shoes!”

One of the first things they had done after bringing Rafe home was get him some new clothes, including shoes. He seemed to absolutely love his light-up sneakers, so that’s what he was wearing right then.

Also, Magnus was proud of Max for being so polite. Looks like all the times him and Alec had to say “what do you say, Max?” paid off. Alec was at the Institute at the moment, setting up who would be in charge of what while he was gone. Since Rafe’s adoption was sudden, that wasn’t set up yet, so he needed to be there for at least an hour to do that. He didn’t want to go, but leaving for that hour meant he could stay home for at least the next two weeks on paternity leave, something he didn’t want to give up. He would be back home soon.

Magnus looked at Rafael and translated what Max had said.

“Le gustan tus zapatos,” he translated.

“Gracias,” Rafael said while looking at Max. Max already knew a little bit of Spanish, from what Magnus and Alec had previously taught him, so he didn’t need a translation for that. He smiled.

“Do you want to color with me?” Max asked.

“¿Tú quieres colorear con Max?” Magnus translated. Rafael nodded, and sat down next to Max, grabbing a few of the crayons, and adding color to Max’s halfway-colored page.

Yeah, life was pretty perfect.


End file.
